From Quentin Sommerville, the BBC:  The Nato-led mission in Afghanistan has suspended the transfer of detainees to several Afghan jails, following torture allegations, the BBC has learned.

The accusations come in an as-yet unpublished UN report, which describes how prisoners were beaten and in some cases given electric shocks.

The jails are run by the Afghan police and intelligence service.

A Nato official said it was a "prudent" measure until the allegations could be investigated.

"With appropriate caution, Isaf [International Security and Assistance Force] has taken the prudent measure to suspend detainee transfer to certain facilities until we can verify the observations of a pending Unama [UN Mission in Afghanistan] report," a Nato official told the BBC. . . .

The UN mission in the country said it had already shared the report’s findings with the government of Afghanistan.

"We understand they are taking the findings very seriously and are proposing a series of remedial actions," the mission’s spokesperson Dan McNorton said.

"Our findings indicate that the mistreatment of detainees is not an institutional or government policy of the government of Afghanistan."  (photo: AP)

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